Globalization has brought the world closer together in such a manner that firms are now

more compelled into working across industries in order to acquire a key uniqueness in the supply

and demand process so as they may be able to remain relevant within the industry. To this end,

the concept of strategic alliance is best understood as the partnership between two or more

companies that seek to work together so as they may be able to achieve mutual goals through the

sharing of resources, information, risks and capabilities. There are a number of reasons that may

be offered to explain why companies go into such local arrangement. None of those resources

beats the one that posits that multinationals go into strategic partnerships so as to utilize another

company’s innovations without the added investment in R&D. This path is seen as a more cost-

effective one as compared to mergers and acquisitions. For the purposes of demystifying the

concept, this paper suggest to go over the strategic partnership between Siemens and Disney with

a view of offering a status update on the alliance.

The companies under investigation need no special mention as to their portfolio as they

both represent industry leaders. Walt Disney has been at core of the development of the global

film industry for over a century; suffice to say that through the years, their use of technology has

been gradually changing to reflect the advances that are being made in science and technology.

On the other hand, Siemens is considered as one of the leading and largest engineering

companies in Europe and has been in existence for over a century as well. With resource

measuring US$104.5billion in revenue, one cannot fail t understand the reason behind Disney’s

decision to sign a 12-year alliance with the company. Key to note is the fact that neither the two

companies revealed the reasons behind the partnership hence leaving analyst only to speculate

their motives. But from the Siemens logos seen at Disney’s theme park attractions, we are in a

position of making smart guesses. Moreover, what is interesting to note is the fact that Disney is
notorious when it comes to partnerships. The entertainment group is known to have partnerships

with General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, and Coca-Cola.

So what exactly has the partnership been like for the two firms? Disney has a number of

parks in the USA, France, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. When it comes to Siemens, the partnership

has so far seen the latter seen Siemens offered naming rights of Epcot’s flagship attraction

Spaceship Earth that is located inside a 180 feet high silver geodesic dome. A sign ‘presented by

Siemens’ hangs outside the ride which takes visitors through model scenes explaining the history

of how each generation’s innovations led to man’s most significant discoveries. At the end of the

attraction, there are high-tech educational interactive exhibits themed to some of Siemens’

products. The same is extended during Disney’s show in ABC where Siemens’ logo in strategic

parts during the show.

Epscot is Disney’s Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Disney intends to

offer children its version of what the world has to offer in terms of future outlook. Through the

partnership, Disney informs her fans that Siemens is leading the advanced experiments that

would see the future come to them sooner than expected. Case in point is the use of Siemens’

hearing aid technology by Disney in their story telling sessions with children who have hearing

disabilities.

From the above discussion, suffice to say that the October 2005 partnership has been

particularly helpful to both parties especially from a marketing point of view. By partnering with

an industry leader in technology, Disney shows her fans that her ideas of the future are not based

on fantasy alone as they are able to incorporate it in their parks. Moreover, Siemens is able to

spread her global visibility with particular emphasis on imprint in that the young child would get

to grow up knowing that Siemens was with them all the way in the parks to hen they becomes of
age. In conclusion, this paper concludes that the partnership has been mutually beneficial to both

MNCs.

Work Cited

Siemens. (2014). Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Strategic Marketing and Technology Alliance.

Retrieved November 30, 2014, from

http://www.usa.siemens.com/en/siemens_in_the_usa/disney_alliance.htm